Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Needle Exchange

Featured Comment by dyathink: "My brother died of AIDS from sharing a needle with a friend who also died of AIDS. My brother was not an addict. He was just a young guy looking for a thrill. Seven years later he paid with his life and left a 25-year-old wife and three kids under age five. Thanks, Mr. Crowley, for the compassion and sensitivity."

Of course this type of project is as old as photojournalism itself. It's heyday was perhaps in the 1950's and 1960's when print venues for such work were prominent and plentiful.

Newspaper Web sites are stumbling over themselves to feature such "multimedia" presentations as this. The NYT, as you'd expect, has become a leader. Other more local papers are -ahem- not quite there yet.

But the salient point is that this style of presentation is beginning to breathe new life into photojournalism. Specifically, it's beginning to revive a bit of the photo essay style that's long since been left for dead. The "bad" news is that multimedia presentations can be quite complex to assemble.

If you like this type of work you can't find better than the essays on Magnum's In Motion site.

I'd say thumbs up for both the project as well as the photographic documentation. Very good work in both cases. The multi-media show could use some improvement, though. It's way too overloaded in my eyes, with all the text (esp. subtitles) and constant background sound. Now don't get me wrong, I do think that these are great ideas on how to present photos. I'd just prefer it a little slower, and in the "less is more" style. I think in this area Magnum is at the moment setting the standards.